We help landowners and managers plan and apply conservation practices that conserve water, maintain soil health and productivity, enhance wildlife habitat, In 1937, Congress developed a model conservation district law for all states to consider, primarily as a result of the devastation of the “Dust Bowl in the 1930s. In 1939, Oregon Legislature passed the Soil Conservation district Law (ORS 568.80
8), which established a State Soil Conservation Committee. Oregon now has 45 soil and water conservation districts, a broad conservation mandate, and a diverse range of landowners, managers, and citizens serving on district boards. Sustaining our natural resources and the communities that depend upon them is a “work in progress” involving ever changing circumstances, complex interactions, and differing expectations. Our success will depend on our abilities to direct our efforts towards the things we can change, and in recognizing and adapting to the things we cannot. Our program is designed around bring people together to efficiently direct our resources to what we can do and to better understand what we cannot.
